


Study Buddy

by storm_aurora



Series: Dexholder Drabble Challenge [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Romantic if you squint, Roommates, a little bit of swearing, they're college kids what do you expect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24810844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_aurora/pseuds/storm_aurora
Summary: Green Oak and his roommate Red get along passably well, but they're not really friends. That might start to change when Red asks Green to be his study buddy.
Relationships: Ookido Green | Blue Oak & Red
Series: Dexholder Drabble Challenge [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1736971
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	Study Buddy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jutsuzuban](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jutsuzuban/gifts).



> This is a gift for my good friend Lea as part of the Pokéganda Family summer gift exchange! I hope you enjoy it!!
> 
> I also decided to kill two birds with one stone by making it part of my Dexholder Drabble Challenge series. The prompt I used for this one was "define"!
> 
> And finally, a big thank-you to Cap for beta reading!

Green Oak lounged on his bed, laptop resting on his chest, fingers tapping in rhythm to the soft, classical music playing in his ears. He had just finished all the homework he planned to get done that day, and he was beginning his relaxation time by reading a scientific article that his sister had sent him. It was about a recently published study of responses to stress in corvids, and she knew how much he loved corvids.

A loud voice suddenly cut through Green’s music, distracting him from the article. “Yeah, I know, I’m about to,” the voice said cheerfully. “Just gotta wait for you to stop yammering on first.” Green scowled at the wall. His roommate had returned.

Green knew exactly four things about his roommate: his name was Red Smith, he came from the suburbs, he was majoring in biology, and he’d been involved in some kind of accident when he was younger that required him to do a lot of physical therapy. This was one more thing than he really needed to know about his roommate, but Red had voluntarily supplied the information when Green told him that he was a kinesiology major. It wasn’t like he was  _ trying _ to be stuck-up or reclusive or cold or whatever, but his and Red’s personalities just didn’t mesh well. Green could tolerate living with him, and that was as much as he needed.

He turned up the volume on his computer so that his music drowned out his roommate’s voice and returned his attention to the article. Red moved into his peripheral vision and hovered there. Green kept reading.

_ The researchers believe the results of this study will be beneficial to those working in the field of mental health research… _

Red tapped on Green’s shoulder. Green took out an earbud and looked at him, mildly annoyed at the interruption. He ran a hand through his absurdly spiky hair and offered Green a nervous smile.

“Hey, uh, we’re in the same Human Anatomy class, right?”

Green blinked. In all honesty, he had no idea. He always sat in the front of the classroom, and his attention was always focused on the professor or the professor’s notes on the whiteboard during class, not his classmates. They could be holding elaborate marble races with huge betting pools in class every day and Green would have no idea – he came to class to  _ learn _ , not to  _ socialize _ .

“Tuesday-Thursday, 3:10, Professor Garcia,” Red added.

That was, indeed, when Green had Human Anatomy. Apparently, he and Red had been going to the same class twice a week for four weeks and he’d never realized it. Rather than dwelling on that disconcerting fact, Green replied, “Yeah. What about it?”

“I, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to study with me? For tomorrow’s test.”

“I already studied for it,” Green said curtly.

“Yeah, but…it wouldn’t hurt to do a little more review beforehand, right?” Red asked.

“I’ve been studying all evening. I’d rather not.”

Red sighed. “C’mon, man, I could really use the help. I’ve been struggling with this class and I thought…I dunno, it seems like you always have your shit together. I thought you might be able to help me.”

Green pursed his lips. He didn’t really want to waste his free time helping his roommate study when Red was perfectly capable of studying himself, but…it would be a dick move to refuse to help someone who clearly needed it, especially since he was perfectly capable of giving it. And, no matter what other people would say, Green was not a dick.

“Alright,” Green finally conceded. “It’d be useful to have someone to study with. I’ll review with you.”

* * *

As the semester continued, Green and Red decided to make their study sessions for Human Anatomy a weekly thing. Thanks to the sessions, Green was coasting through the class with ease, making high A’s on every assignment and test. Red…wasn’t doing nearly as well. However, he wasn’t in danger of failing anymore, which Green had learned was the reason why he came to him for help in the first place. The arrangement was mutually beneficial, so Green found that he didn’t mind spending time with his annoying roommate every week. In fact, he was starting to find that his annoying roommate wasn’t quite so annoying after all.

Most of the time.

**_Hey are you at the dorm rn? Left my keys_ **

Green read the text that Red had sent him and rolled his eyes. Luckily for him, he was in fact in the dorm, working on a paper for his English class.

_ Yeah _

**_Awesome be there in 5_ **

In all honesty, he was a little relieved for the excuse to take a little break from the essay – he was struggling to figure out how to word the sentence he was working on. Taking a few minutes away from the paper would let him relax for a moment and approach the thing with a clear mind. But, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t mess with Red a little for pulling him away from his work.

Six minutes after Red sent the second text, there was a knock on the door.

“Define the three types of joints and name an example of each,” Green announced from his side of the door.

“Dude!” Red protested. “Can you please just open the door?”

Green smirked. “If you want to succeed in a class, you have to be prepared for it at all times.”

“That sounds exhausting,” Red complained, but he gave Green the answers anyways. Green was pleasantly surprised that he got them all right – they’d only talked about this in class yesterday. Correct answers were correct answers, and he opened the door to let Red in.

Red immediately beelined for his closet and started pulling out sports equipment – gym shorts, cleats, a water bottle, a drawstring bag. This didn’t surprise Green – he knew, at this point, that Red was an athlete. What did surprise him was when Red pulled out a Frisbee.

“Wait, you’re on the Frisbee team?” Green asked.

Red glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, ‘s that a problem?”

Green shook his head. “No, it’s just…your wrists.”

Another thing that Green had learned during his study sessions with Red was that the accident he had mentioned in their first meeting had badly injured his wrists. While the physical therapy had strengthened his wrists back to near-normal function, they still started to hurt when he had to use them too much, such as writing or typing for a long period of time. Flicking a Frisbee around would  _ definitely _ strain his wrists.

Red smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Yeah, they usually hurt afterwards. But don’t all sports? And, I mean, in the end…I enjoy it, and that’s what really matters.”

“I guess,” Green said. “I just don’t get why you’d choose to participate in the one sport that relies so heavily on wrist movements.”

“My dad played Frisbee when he was in college. He taught me how to throw a disc,” Red explained. “So I’ve always wanted to play Frisbee. A little car accident won’t stop me.”

“Oh. Cool.”

Green watched Red get the rest of his gear together and rush out the door. Red’s reasons for playing Frisbee were sappy and sentimental…but, even so, Green thought his dedication to the sport was admirable. The guy certainly had heart. And if he could put that much heart into playing Frisbee, well…Green was certain that he’d be able to succeed in his classes, too.

He sat back down to work on his essay with a small smile on his face.

* * *

The rest of the semester flew by. Some days it felt like Green just blinked and suddenly snow was covering the ground, setting the mood for the upcoming holiday season. He and Red had been hanging out more often, even outside of their weekly study sessions, and Red’s average in Human Anatomy was improving.

He surprised himself the day he realized that he was rooting for Red to get an A in the class.

For college students, though, the approaching holiday season was an omen of a more terrifying beast: finals week. Green was nervous about finals, just like anyone else – even if he was confident in his ability to ace them all. He definitely wouldn’t be acing anything if he didn’t spend time studying for them.

The night before the Human Anatomy final, Red and Green were seated together at a table in the library, all their notes from the semester spread across its surface like a flimsy white tablecloth. They quizzed each other to name various bones, muscles, and body parts using flashcards; Green tried to keep them in a neat pile, but Red preferred tossing them on the floor when Green got an answer right and throwing them at his face when he got an answer wrong (not that that happened  _ often _ , thank you very much). Green sipped on coffee from his thermos to keep himself alert. Red was staying awake on sugar and spite. As messy and disorganized as it was, as much as he hated during the actual exam that he’d stayed up all night studying…Green had to admit that it was a lot of fun.

Professor Garcia was a fast grader, and he promised to have final grades posted before everyone left for winter break. Green was in the middle of packing up the clothes that he wanted to bring home when Red flung the door of their dorm room and announced, “Anatomy final grades are posted!”

“Oh, darn. I thought I’d be able to finish packing before they were posted,” Green said, dropping a shirt into his suitcase and reaching onto his bed for his cell phone. “How’d you do?”

“I got a ninety-six!” Red exclaimed.

“Hey! Congrats, man,” Green said with a grin, standing up and giving his roommate a friendly slug on the shoulder. “You’ve improved a lot. I’m proud of you.”

“Never would’ve been able to do it without you, dude,” Red said, throwing an arm over Green’s shoulder. “Thank you so much.”

Green shrugged Red’s arm off and pulled up his grades. His eyes widened when he saw his grade for the Anatomy final.

“Your eyes got all big. What’s that mean? How’d you do?” Red asked eagerly.

“I got a ninety-nine,” Green said quickly.

“Awesome! I mean, I’m not surprised, but still,” Red chuckled. “If anyone’s gonna get a near-perfect score on their final, it’d be you. You probably lost a point because your handwriting was too messy or something.”

“Yeah, probably,” Green said, plastering a fake smile on his face. He locked his phone so that Red wouldn’t be able to see the ninety-five that was  _ actually _ displayed on his screen. If Red knew that he’d done better than Green on the Anatomy final…Green would never hear the end of it. “Are you done packing yet?”

“Haven’t started,” Red replied cheerfully.

“You should get on that,” Green said, returning to his own packing. He was flying home that evening, so he needed to be ready to go soon.

He had to admit, though, that as much as he was looking forward to going home and seeing his family for the holidays…he would be looking forward to returning to campus in the spring, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! <3


End file.
